VietNamNet Bridge – The Can Tho police have busted a gang of seven burglars who allegedly stole VND10 billion (US$450,000) from six jewellery shops in the Mekong Delta since last year.

The Hien – Tinh Ha, the first jewellery shop to be allegedly burgled by a gang that was arrested on Saturday after being caught red-handed while trying to break into another in Soc Trang Province. – giadinhvietnam.com

A police team set up following the first burglary in early 2015 caught two of the thieves red-handed while trying to break into a jewellery shop in My Xuyen District of Soc Trang Province early Saturday morning.

The officers arrested five others from Vinh Long and HCM City based on information the duo provided.

“The seven men often split into two groups and chose remote gold shops on stilts in rivers, broke in from the portion over the water into the shop,” Colonel Tran Ngoc Hanh, director of the Can Tho Police Department, said.

Their modus operandi was to drift silently on boats up to the stilt houses early in the morning when a nearby market would be opening noisily and drowning out their sounds.

After breaking in, they would first lock the owners in to ensure there was no scuffle.

After escaping with the loot, they would go to HCM City, melt the jewellery and sell the gold to jewellers.

They struck for the first time in Can Tho’s Phong Dien District early in 2015, and then burgled five other gold shops in Mekong Delta provinces.

The Ministry of Public Security authorised the Can Tho police to investigate all the robberies.

VNS